Windows reboots every time it starts...

poop · Post by **poop** » Sun Nov 25, 2001 12:01 pm

My father's computer has started an odd habit. It reboots every time windows tries to start up. Trying to start in safe mode, it does the same thing.

I have tried many different BIOS settings, and cannot figure it out. He says that it used to do it sometimes, but he could turn the PC off, wait a minute, then start it and it was fine. I upgraded his computer to a roomier case, put in some more RAM and a CD-ROM (he only had a CD-R). I tried to boot it after the upgrade, and now it ALWAYS reboots.

I am assuming it either windows or his crappy motherboard, what do you guys/gals think?

His computer:
K6-2 500
384 MB of RAM
10 GB Hard drive
Crappy soyo mobo (sis 530 chipset - a real POS)

Thanks!

Edit:
I already tried the following:
booting with ACPI on & off.
switching the OS type to non plug-n-play & plug-n-play.
slowing his RAM timings
slowing his CPU
giving his CPU a little extra voltage

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Sun Nov 25, 2001 12:11 pm

The times I've experienced that it was due to a hardware conflict. Before condenming to mobo, try booting it into safe mode with everything not essential unplugged from the mobo, like everything but the video card, keyboard, mouse and perhaps floppy. Unplug newer add-ons. Double check bios settings too. Some bios's have a default setting so you might want to try that but be sure you write down any newer changes (that worked) before in order to save time later on.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sun Nov 25, 2001 3:12 pm

Yes, I agree. Pull all your cards except the vid card. I suspect it'll boot fine. Then install each card ONE BY ONE. If one gives you a problem, move it to a different slot.

You'll probably find you have a resource conflict or a bad driver.

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Sun Nov 25, 2001 3:33 pm

It also could be a bad ram stick. That happend to me once a few months ago while trying to diagnoise a problem with a pc: it would boot, but once on the windows intro screen it would reboot. I tried just about everything including a format, but in the end, it was a bad ram stick.

poop · Post by **poop** » Sun Nov 25, 2001 7:23 pm

Forgot to mention some stuff:
I did try 2 different RAMs, both in different slots.
His motherboard is totally integrated, so I cannot uplug stuff.
I also tried 2 different BIOS defaults (setup and system), plus some settings that I am pretty sure should have worked.

No luck.

My folks live 2 hours away, and were only visiting for Thanksgiving, so I am having a buddy do the work from here on. He actually took the HD and plugged it into my sisters computer. When he tried to boot, the exact same thing happened. From that I konw one of two things: a) windows is dead or b) the HD is dead. In any case, he is installing an older 6 GB drive that we know is good in my father's PC. He is going to put the suspect drive in as a slave, and install windows fresh on the 6 GB old drive.

Hopefully that will resolve things.

NascarFool · Post by **NascarFool** » Sun Nov 25, 2001 8:49 pm

I just did a 20 gig Western Digital drive with the WD software. Stupid drive showed in Win98 as a slave but came up as invalid. After running the WD install program, it works like new now.

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Sun Nov 25, 2001 8:59 pm

same thing with my moms system with Win2k, and a r7500, and Iwillkk266+. I just tell her to turn it on 15 min b4 she wants to use it and you will be set...I have no idea what it is but it only has happened to me with this R7500 card.

Good luck man

Greg

poop · Post by **poop** » Tue Nov 27, 2001 6:49 pm

Well... tried a different hard drive, and the exact same thing happens when trying to install XP onto a formatted hard drive.

Just ordered him a Tbird 1Ghz + IWILL kk266 + GeForce2 MX. The whole thing is so damned cheap, it is infuriating, really.